LendingKart acquires Upwards to scale offerings

Speaking to Inc42, Lendingkart founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Harshvardhan Lunia said that the deal was pegged somewhere between INR 100 Cr and INR 120 Cr.

The move will enable Upwards to leverage Lendingkart’s credit, capital and distribution capability to further deepen its presence across the country. The acquisition will also enable Upwards to access Lendingkart’s knowledge base to achieve scalable metrics and positive unit economics in their business.

On the other hand, the acquisition will help Lendingkart strengthen its current offerings, especially those catering to small and medium businesses (SMBs) and leverage Upwards’ tech stack to better serve its existing clients. With the move, Lendingkart will also deploy the startup’s credit underwriting engine to streamline the user experience and the lifecycle of loan disbursement.

Upwards will continue to operate as a standalone entity under the Lendingkart Group and will be led by the existing team.

Speaking to Inc42, Lunia further added that the consolidated entity will scale slowly from the ground up in the next 12-18 months. The idea is to fully understand the space, learn from the people who are already there, identify the right segment and then scale it up, added Lunia.